Average customer rating based on 10 comments:

Mary Bretz, January 30, 2013 (view all comments by Mary Bretz)
I had mixed feelings when buying this book because I own the rest of Mr Alexie's books and couldn't see why I was buying the older stories again. First I only sought out the new but slowly returned to the old. It's amazing. Every time I re-read one of his books, I'm always amazed to see how much I've learned in the interim.

tekah, January 3, 2013 (view all comments by tekah)
I never really appreciated the short story genre until reading this collection of Alexie's work that is so raw, compelling and humorous. I was so sad when I finished the book in a few days!

What a powerful collection of short stories! Alexie really stretches his wings and explores fascinating new territories, while at the same time revamping his old works by placing them in new contexts. I was completely blown away by Mr. Alexie, as usual.

by Amantha

"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"The National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award-winner's latest work combines 15 classics ('The Toughest Indian in the World'; 'Salt'; 'Indian Education') with 15 recent stories of varying length and tenor, and the result should attract new converts and invite back longtime fans. Heralded for his candid depictions of life on a reservation in the Pacific Northwest, versatile Alexie traverses familiar territory while also branching out. A son envisions his dead father's 'impossibly small corpse' peering out of his morning omelet in the page-long 'Breakfast.' In 'Gentrification,' a white narrator's do-gooder intentions go predictably awry in his all-black neighborhood. 'Night People' finds a sex-starved insomniac and a connection-hungry manicurist at a 24-hour New York City salon finding common ground in their loneliness and lack of sleep. In 'Faith,' a married man and a married woman at an evangelical dinner party who have an instantly easy rapport deliver witty repartee at the expense of their sheepish spouses. As in previous volumes, Alexie hammers away at ever-simmering issues, like racism, addiction, and infidelity, using a no-holds-barred approach and seamlessly shattering the boundary between character and reader. But while these glimpses into a harried and conflicted humanity prod our consciousness, there's plenty of bawdiness and Alexie's signature wicked humor throughout to balance out the weight. Agent: Nancy Stauffer Associates." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

"Review"
by Donna Seaman, Booklist,
"Alexie is a virtuoso of the short story....His first two blazing collections, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and The Toughest Indian in the World, established him as an essential American voice. Now, many books later, best-selling Alexie has created a substantial, big-hearted, and potent collection that combines an equal number of new and selected stories to profound effect. In these comfort-zone-destroying tales...Alexie writes with arresting perception in praise of marriage, in mockery of hypocrisy, and with concern for endangered truths and imperiled nature. He is mischievously and mordantly funny, scathingly forthright, deeply and universally compassionate, and wholly magnetizing. This is a must-have collection."

"Review"
by Kirkus Reviews (starred review),
"[A] sterling collection of short stories by Alexie, a master of the form....The newer pieces are full of surprises....These pieces show Alexie at his best: as an interpreter and observer, always funny if sometimes angry, and someone, as a cop says of one of his characters, who doesn't 'fit the profile of the neighborhood.'"

"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,
New and selected favorite stories from two decades of writing by the National Book Award-winning, bestselling, inimitable national treasure, Sherman Alexie.

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